While National Media Conveniently Ignores, This Kerala Magazine Faces Blatant Intolerance From The Church
The 16 December 2016 edition of Bhashaposhini, a 125-year-old literary magazine from the house of Malayala Manorama, the largest-selling daily in Malayalam, simply and silently disappeared. When it reappeared, a painting done by artist Tom Vattakuzhy for a play, was missing. The play was about Mata Hari, a dancer executed by the French for syping during the World War. The painter had depicted an image with nuns sitting around a bare-breasted Mata Hari in the style of the famous last supper scene. However the same magazine now had as its cover the photo of a sculpture of Sree Narayana Guru in not exactly an honourable way.
Nonentheless, since that incident, the Malayala Manorama group has apologised to the Church authorities, but to no avail. Christian groups have gone ahead and organised protests against Malayala Manorama throughout the state. Further, according to this report in The News Minute:
Though the magazine was withdrawn from circulation after sending a few copies to its subscribers by post, the church started a campaign to ban Manorama publications.
In all of this, the report also says that there is speculation that a magazine owned by the Church is deliberately playing up the issue to cut down on the circulation of Bhasha Poshini and increase its own.
A publication in the state that is celebrated as the most literate in India is facing intolerance of a medieval nature. What is equally perplexing and dismaying is that none of the national media giants have come to the support of their colleagues.